How are Turkey’s home carriers faring?

Turkey’s airline traffic has been the battleground for its home carriers in recent years with both hoping to take advantage of the growing inbound and outbound opportunities to the country.   

Similarly to those based in the Middle East (see more below in our Arabian Travel Market round-up), Turkey’s central position between Europe and Asia has been instrumental in its growth, while also allowing to open up destinations in the Gulf and Africa that others are not yet able to touch.

Turkish Airlines and low-cost competitor Pegasus Airlines are the top two home carriers vying for more traffic from the UK, although Atlasjet is making waves too.

But how do they all compare?

Turkish Airlines

This week Turkish Airlines announced it flew 48.3 million passengers in 2013, up 23% compared to 2012. The carrier predicts its passenger count will reach 60m for 2014, representing 25% growth.

Its load factor has increased 1.4% to reach a high of 79% and with more than 10 aircraft due to join its fleet this year its total count will be at 263 by year-end.

Turkish flies from Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh predominantly into Istanbul and Izmir.

The airline has more than double the destinations than its nearest competitor Pegasus Airlines, with 200 against 80 respectively.

Pegasus Airlines

However Pegasus is seeing similar growth to Turkish Airlines, with its passenger count also up 25% to 4.08 million. The low-cost carrier claims to own 11.6% share of the international market and has planes just as full as its competitor with a 78.7% load factor.

With its low-cost model Pegasus has moved slower with its UK growth, currently flying from Stansted and Gatwick although it has added frequencies and destinations. The airline’s SVP and chief financial officer Serhan Ulga told Travel Daily the airline could fly from Manchester and Liverpool in the future and is aiming for 20% growth in passengers this year.

“The UK is one of the best markets for us; the Stansted route was the first in our network to go up to double daily and it is an area that is knowledgeable about the low-cost travel market,” he said.

Atlasjet

Newcomer Atlasjet has only been around for 13 years, while Turkish Airlines first started out in 1933 and Pegasus in 1990.

Its summer services from Luton to Istanbul Ataturk launched on Friday and will now operate four times a week before turning into a daily service from June. Passenger numbers were not available when Travel Daily was finalised this morning.